1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fundus imaging apparatus, and more particularly, to a fundus imaging apparatus capable of imaging an anterior ocular segment of an eye to be inspected.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a fundus camera capable of observing and imaging a fundus and an anterior ocular segment of an eye to be inspected. A fundus camera disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H04-317628 supports imaging of the anterior ocular segment as well by spacing the eye to be inspected away from the fundus camera, and moving a focus lens for focusing between an image of the eye to be inspected and an imaging plane in a hyperopic direction when imaging the anterior ocular segment.
In a case where an examiner such as an ophthalmologist uses the fundus camera as described above for imaging the anterior ocular segment, the examiner first switches a diopter adjustment lens to a hyperopia lens, and moves the focus lens in the hyperopic direction. Then, the examiner greatly moves the fundus camera toward the examiner side. Finally, the examiner performs alignment for imaging the anterior ocular segment of the subject, and then performs imaging of the anterior ocular segment.
As described above, in the fundus camera capable of imaging the anterior ocular segment as well, there is a problem in that the switching from the fundus imaging mode to the anterior ocular segment imaging mode is extremely complicated, hard to understand, and time consuming. To address this problem, in a fundus camera disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-275921, in order to image the anterior ocular segment, an imaging optical system for the anterior ocular segment is separately provided, which allows imaging of the anterior ocular segment. However, the apparatus increases in size and manufacturing cost.
Further, in an ophthalmologic imaging apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4,430,378, a moving amount per unit rotational angle of a focus knob is changed between the case of imaging the fundus and the case of imaging the anterior ocular segment. Accordingly, in the case of imaging the anterior ocular segment, the focus lens can be moved greatly, and hence it is expected that the period of time required for the switching from the fundus imaging mode to the anterior ocular segment imaging mode can be reduced to a certain extent. However, it is hard to say that the examiner's operation is reduced.